Jim Tracy: ‘I promise’ Rockies will turn things around

Jim Tracy just wrapped up one of his most animated pre-game (pre-games?) pressers of the season. Some quickie comments from the manager’s lair:

• On moving Jonathan Herrera to the leadoff spot and dropping Dexter Fowler to second: “I don’t know where it’s headed. They’ll tell me. I’m not going to guess. As long as I’m getting effort, which I get with both of them, they’ll answer it.”

• On the Rockies’ 12-20 slide since opening the season 11-2: “I ain’t namin’ names. We’re struggling collectively. Quit swinging at balls over your head and bouncing in front of the plate.”

• On more lineup shakeups are coming: “I guess you get a big kick out of drawing names out of a hate. To me, that borders on making a mockery of the situation and I ain’t goin’ there. I promise you we’ll figure it out.”

• The bottom line (and before we launch this into cyberspace, note that this is Tracy’s most profound comment in the midst of his team’s considerable struggles): “By the time we get to the end of September, we’ll be as good as we’re supposed to be. I promise you that.”

“By the time we get to the end of September, we’ll be as good as we’re supposed to be. I promise you that.”

Sounds like an empty Obama promise. Tracy’s comment can also be read “If by the time we get to the end of September we’ve 100 games, that’s how “good” we were supposed to be.”

Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”Placing players who cannot hit into different slots of the lineup and expecting different results fits Einstein’s definition perfectly.

Andrew M

You mean those broken promises from your republican party to focus on jobs??

Keep the winger politics out of here, we’re talking baseball. Got any more cliches to offer? Here’s mine: It ain’t over ’til it’s over. At least Tracy is trying to fix the team.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.